Cadbury and Mars are going head to head to cash in on the leap year's extra Friday this month by splashing out on themed ads.

Galaxy will be giving away spa breaks and shopping trips, backed by a £1.2m marketing push including radio and press with the tagline 'Happy leap year, with love from Galaxy'.

At the same time, Cadbury is bringing back its Friday Feeling campaign as part of a £1.5m marketing spend, including the return of its Rollercoaster ad next week. As well as playing on the leap year, which means an extra Friday in February, the initiatives signal the start of the Easter battle between the companies.

Crunchie branding will appear on 70 taxis across London, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh offering free snack-size bars to passengers throughout this month. It is also giving away taxi rides every Friday during February between 4pm and 8pm.

The last time the Rollercoaster ad was aired, in 2002, Crunchie sales rose 15.3% [Nielsen].

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